Epilogue, Continued
by Cavloe12
Summary: The epilogue seems... unfinished, so I finished it. Note that Albus/Scorpius is only the first chapter's pairing. Harry/Draco is the next chapter's pairing. But there will be more Albus/Scorpius in later chapters! Slash in later chapters!
1. Chapter 1

**The Epilogue, Continued**

Warnings: No explicit content, but lots & lots of fluffy stuff. I will try to control the language, but if I put some in, it's mostly because it's what I would say, if I were to say it. There is some fighting, but not between the six main characters & I also have tried to control the blood from that one scene so as to not upset _anyone._ Don't read if you don't like, though!

AN: I hate the epilogue, so I decided to ruin it. I also don't get the whole Scorpius/Rose thing... so I crushed that, too. And the Angelina/George thing, but Fred II is still there, just younger and not in Hogwarts. And I don't hate that, I just ruined it. But I do hate Ginny/Harry and that's ruined here too. If, by the end of this, you want to know who Lyra/Mitzi is, just read the first chapter of The Youngest Black, if you don't like it, don't read the next chapter & if you do, the next chapter will be posted on Friday. Also, the Baddock kids are Zoë's kids, you will be sooo confused if you don't read that chapter.

Disclaimer: Harry Potter, the books, plots, characters, and other things belong to J.K. Rowling

**Epilogue.**

**ON THE TRAIN  
**

Albus sat down in his seat in the carriage, a bit forlorn & extremely worried. He did feel better after his father had told him that, but he couldn't help but think that he would be disowned if he got into Slytherin. Just then, Carina Finnegan, daughter of Seamus & Lyra Finnegan, bounced into the carriage, dragging a small pale boy Albus recognised from the platform behind her.

"Hey Al & Rosie! Can Scorpius & I sit here?" A bright smile covers her face, & the pale boy, Scorpius, cowers behind her.

"Scorpius, as in Scorpius Malfoy?" Rose says with a hint of hatred in her voice, Scorpius tried to stand a bit taller & looked at Carina. Both he & Rose had heard of the Malfoys & many of their kin, though Rose was subjected to much harsher renditions of the memories they had with him. Whereas, Carina's mum worked with the elder Malfoy who were both the Head Healers on the Spell Damage floor at St. Mungos; she & her mum went to Malfoy Manor & the three Malfoys had come to their house at Hagen Glen many times. Seeing him so much, Carina & Scorpius had become best friends & were only separated during sleep & when she went to visit the Potters & Weasleys.

"Oh, no, this is Scorpius Zabini. Why on earth would I bring Scorpius Malfoy?" She returned with a hearty laugh & a derisive stare. "Of course it's Scorpius Malfoy! Do you know of any other Scorpius's? 'Cause if you do, please introduce me to them." Rose opens her mouth to speak, but Albus gets there first.

"Sure you can sit with us, Car. & so can he," Scorpius looks at him with a quirked eyebrow & a mouthed thank you. "I don't judge people by their last name." Rose gives him a raised eyebrow as Carina & Scorpius sit down.

"Thank you, Al. You should listen to him more often, Rose. It seems he actually says things with weight sometimes," Carina said as Al with a reproachful glare & hearty laughs from the other three in the car.

"I say weighted things all the time." Al protested.

Sometime after they stopped laughing, Rose said, "But you're right, Al. I shouldn't judge him until I get to know him," a large smile covering her face as she holds out her hand & Scorpius shakes it, "I'm Rose, Rose Weasley."

"And I'm Scorpius Malfoy; but you probably already knew that," he says with an almost-smirking half-smile.

"I'm Albus Severus Potter," says Albus, also shaking Scorpius' hand.

"And last, but most certainly not least, I'm Carina Adelinda Finnegan," she doesn't shake Scorpius' hand, though he holds it out to her, "there's no need, since I already know you."

"Hey, doesn't Adelinda mean 'noble snake' in German?" Rose then asks.

"Yep, you know your German. Just don't tell my brother, he has no idea what it means & mum'd like to keep it that way, if you don't mind. He gets the whole constellation thing though, since mum was so adamant about upholding the tradition. Max's middle name is a constellation too, but no one except mum & I know it. So, anyway, what house do you want to be in?"

Oh great, it was Al's favourite topic, houses. Rose piped up first "I want to be in Gryffindor, but I suppose Ravenclaw wouldn't be too bad..."

Carina nodded. "That sounds about right for you. I wan' to be in either Gryffindor or Slytherin; though it's most likely going to be the latter, I go' my mum's Slytherin side, I know, & if my da has any Slytherin in 'im, I've probably go' tha' too," Albus noticed she had a deep Nairn accent (as she's from there), not that he hadn't noticed before, but she usually tried to cover it up as much as possible. She seemed to notice too & slapped her hands over her mouth as Scorpius started to talk.

"Father wants me to be in Slytherin, of course. And I can't say I disagree with him that I'd make a good one, but I've also put the fact that I could also be in Ravenclaw on the table as well."

Carina nods at him too, and then looks at Albus, "what house do you want to be in, Al?"

"Um... Well, I don't really know... Any house would be fine really..." Albus said with great concern in his voice. Carina looked at him with thoughtful eyes; Rose's showed great concern for her friend, while Scorpius' face betrayed no emotion, as it had for most of the time they had been on the train.

"There's no need to worry, Al. Don't think like that, or you'll get into Hufflepuff! And Rose, you'd be a perfect Ravenclaw or Gryffindor . As Scorp's dad would say, 'you're such a bloody blubbering, emotional, idiot Gryffindor!'" Carina said enthusiastically as she & Scorpius laughed heartily. Rose glared at them.

"Gryffindors are not idiots! My mum was in Gryffindor & she's no idiot!" Rose defended

"Yeah, well, I didn't mean all Gryffindors are idiots. For one, you & your mum aren't. And two, my mum was in Gryffindor too & she's one of the best Healers the St. Mungos have ever seen! I just meant that you're all a bunch of saps that run into things without plans & don't look back! Plus, don't look at me, I'm just recanting what Scorp's dad said—about my mom, actually; remember I said I had a chance of being in Gryffindor too!" Scorpius shot her a look of indignation. "Oh, and speaking of Slytherin parents; Blaire's going to be joining us soon, she's just talking to Bayard because he's worried she's going to faint before we actually get to the school." Albus thought to himself that this was quite possible considering the fact that she almost always was & whenever she got nervous or scared she fainted. Scorpius snorted at this.

"She most likely will. Though she told me she's going to try to persevere at least through the sorting." He said to Carina & Rose, who looked very worried about her sickly friend. Just then, the door opened & a flustered looking Blaire Baddock entered the carriage.

"Bayard is insane. I think he _wants_ me to pass out before we even get to the school," she said as she sat next to Carina & Rose. With that they all started discussing what they thought Hogwarts would be like & the houses & what they anticipated the classes & teachers to be like. They were almost at the school, Blaire hadn't fainted, yet, & Albus still wasn't in his school robes, so the rest of them left the carriage, Scorpius almost stayed, but Carina pulled him along with her. As they stood outside, a girl with dark auburn hair, sharp green eyes—a lot like Albus's, actually—and soft but serious features stepped out of the carriage next to theirs. She looks at all of them speculatively, sees Blaire & comes over to give her a large bear hug.

"Ah, ma chère amie! Blaire, how are you! Oh, how long it has been! How long has it been?" She said, her accent heavily French.

"I last saw you on Bastille Day, it wasn't too long ago & you're choking me, Estée, please let go," Blaire pleaded with the girl. The girl let go of the hug and gently kissed each cheek as Blaire did the same to her.

"That's over a month ago! That is a _very_ long time. I wish I could see you more, but with father's work in France, I just can't seem to find the time."

"Well, I get that, but I do wish I could go with you, I miss Lucretia & Camille. Speaking of France, I thought you were going to Beauxbatons, what are you doing here?" Blaire shot back at her; the three looked at her with bemusement, wondering who the girl was.

"I decided I would rather go here. Lucrece was livid when I told her I wasn't going. I don't know why I chose to go here, but I guess it's because England is more exciting to me. By the way, are you going to introduce me to your friends, they seem to be slightly confused as to what we are talking about," she said, pointing at Rose, who was standing in the centre.

"Oh, right. Forgot they were here..."

"Thanks," muttered Carina and Scorpius & Rose giggled at their sarcastic tone.

"You're welcome," Blaire said batting her eyelashes & smiling innocently. "Anyway, these are my closest friends, Carina Finnegan, Scorpius Malfoy & Rose Weasley; this is Estelle, she's in our year & will—going out on a limb here—enjoy spending time & getting to know you, as you come to know her." She said flatly, though her tone of speaking about the future gave off a dreamy air as it normally did, seeing as Blaire was a seer & thoroughly enjoyed talking about it.

"It is a pleasure, mes bientôt-à -être des amis. I have heard much of you.ʺ She said shaking their hands & giving each of them a quick peck on the cheek. Just as Blaire was about to say something else Albus burst through the door.

"You guys do know I've finished changing; I mean, you can come back in now, if you'd like," he said quickly. Blaire shot him a quick glare, but gave up, rolling her eyes as they said their 'goodbye's & 'see you at school's to Estelle. When they got back in the car, Albus looked at them with a slightly raised eyebrow, "Who was that?" He asked Blaire.

"My friend Estelle Benoit. Her father is French & she lives there sometimes; but she mostly lives in England where her mother's family lives, though her mother's family is originally from the U.S., she moved to England to help her cousin & aunt." Blaire says calmly. Rose, Scorpius & Carina look at her shell-shocked.

"When you say... Benoit... Do you mean _the_ Benoit, as in she's...she's _Ambroise _Benoit's daughter?" Rose stutters. Albus looks at her funny, he's heard the name, he just can't pinpoint where, exactly...

"Yes, she is; but please don't ogle at her, she gets enough of that back in France, & in some parts of England as well, actually, they treat her whole family as if they're some jewel to be prized... It's a bit preposterous, really. The fact that her mother's the Editor of the _Daily Prophet_ doesn't help either..." Blaire trailed off & started staring out the window like she always did when she didn't want to talk about something.

Scorpius rolled his eyes at both Albus, who seemed disconcerted by the whole talk of the Benoits, & Blaire, who was now reading one of the school textbooks & looking slightly green again. He looked over at Albus and said, "Ambroise Benoit is, most likely, the most famous clothing designer-slash-stylist in all of Europe & his clothing is hard to get & very expensive. His wife, Abigail Benoit is the Editor of the _Daily Prophet,_ as Blaire explained earlier," he said with a derisive tone to his voice, making Albus start to look out the window too. Now he knew where he had heard that name before, his mom was always gushing over his catalogues & went window shopping with Lily at his store in London sometimes; though she did _own_ some of his clothing, there had been quite a few Christmas's & fight make-up gifts from his father that had been bought from the store.

"I knew that, kind of... I just didn't remember, plus I have no reason for remembering it. It's not like my mom is going to buy me anything from there. I've never even been to his store." He said defensively.

"Oh! If you want to, you can go with us next time. The one in London is a women's only store & I'd love to see you in a large fur cloak!" Rose said & the rest of the carriage broke out in laughter at the image of Albus Potter in big fluffy robes walking around downtown London.

* * *

Albus was thrilled that they did go on the boats & he didn't have to wonder if you really _could_ see the thestrals, the thought was still sitting in the back of his head telling him how weird they would be & that they were bad luck & all the other non-sense spewed at him from James & Carina's older brother, Maximilian. They were almost at the castle when the light on the boats all went out.

Scorpius, who was sitting next to him, grabbed his hand almost immediately. Carina had told him about the young Malfoy's aversion to darkness & how he only liked it if he was going to sleep. He hadn't ever known if it was true, but he was starting to guess it was with how tightly the boy seemed to be clinging to his hand. "Uh... Scorpius? You're hurting my hand..." Scorpius retracted his hand quickly & drove both hands into his pockets.

"Oh, sorry about that; just... ah, the lights are back on, you'll have to excuse me for causing you a disturbance," he said with a fast nod as he turned his head to the front again. "Don't you dare tell _anyone _I did that."

"Why would I, I don't do that kind of thing to my friends." Al said truthfully as he stared at the side of Scorpius's head, waiting for him to turn around again so they could talk. He did, Scorpius turned from his steady gaze at the front of the boats to look at Al with a slightly bewildered look.

"Friends? When did we become friends, Potter?" He said sharply.

"When we shook hands on the train. I thought you would've known that that was a sign of acknowledgement," Albus said, his face puzzled. Scorpius looked slightly embarrassed. "And please call me Al, or at least Albus. Potter is too formal."

"All right, Albus, I guess we could be friends, but don't tell anyone I'm slightly... _afraid_ –" he said the word as if it were a curse "—of the dark—I _know_ Car already told you—but it really would not help me gain standing in Slytherin if I were to go there & I really want to be as influential as my father was in the house; not that I want to _be him_. But, anyway, just _please _don't tell, too many people know already," The blonde pleaded, his gray eyes large in the low light.

"All right, all right. I never said I was, anyway. Who knows, besides me & Car, of course?"

"Maximilian, the whole Baddock family, Julia & Vivian Weasley, Great-Aunt Rhea & Sylvia Sitherly," he drawled. "Way too many people, if you ask me; which you just did, so I'll assume you agree," he ended with dreading look on his face.

"It is, & you must get a lot of pranks from Max if he knows, I'm surprised my whole family doesn't know if he does. They're really close, you know?"

"Oh yeah, I know; but Max swore that he wouldn't tell anyone & that he would only prank me in front of people who knew. Trust me; he has done _a lot_ of that in the past few years he's known." He smiled sheepishly & turned back to the front.

"How did you get Max to swear to that? He would've just pushed me away and laughed if I tried."

"Oh, let's just say I know some things Aunt Lyra would rather not know." He said with a wolfish grin.

"Well, you'll have to tell me those "some things" sometime." He said, returning the grin.

"Maybe," Scorpius said lessening his smile into one of friendliness, a bit of mirth and admiration showing in his eyes.

Hagrid, who was still the games keeper & Professor of Care of Magical Creatures, was standing at the front as he told them to put their heads down as they reached the cliff and quite soon after got off the boats. He looked around, this year there was quite a large number of first years and they were all crowded together. He shrugged, guessing that, since there were so many, they were all here; he then turned around & knocked on the large door in front of him three times; the doors opened & out came a tall, but kindly-looking, slightly greying-brown hair man that smiled down at them all.

"The firs' years, Professor Castro," said Hagrid.

"Thank you, Professor Hagrid. I shall be taking them forward from here," he added with a soft smile.

He pulled the doors wide. The entrance hall was the exact same as when Albus's father had gone to school [Quick Author's Note: I could rephrase what they said in the book, but I'm too lazy. So just read the book for that part...]. They followed Professor Castro into a small, empty chamber next to the hall. Just inside the door Albus heard the drone of hundred of voices, the rest of the school must already be in there. He gulped, swallowing his fear when he felt a hand on his wrist. He looked over & saw Rose looked just as worried as he did. Blaire looked worse than anyone else in the room & Scorpius & Carina looked as if this were a competition they had trained their whole life for.

"Welcome to Hogwarts," said Professor Castro. "The start-of-term banquet will begin soon, but before you all take your seats in the Great Hall, you must be sorted into your houses. The Sorting is a very important ceremony because, whilst you are here, your house will be like your family. You will have classes with your house, sleep in your house dormitory, & spend free time in your house's common room.

"The four houses are, Hufflepuff, Gryffindor, Ravenclaw & Slytherin. Each house has its own noble history and each has produced amazing witches and wizards. While you are here, any wrongdoings will result in the loss of house points, while good-deeds will earn you house points. At the end of the year the points will be totalled up & the house with the most points will be given the house cup, which is a great honour. I hope you will all be a helpful & good credit to whichever house you may be sorted into.

"The Sorting Ceremony will be held in front of the rest of the school just a few minutes, so please, do wait patiently I would think you should try to make yourselves as presentable & honest to your character as possible, for when you go up to the hat."

Professor Castro then left the anxiously waiting crowd silent & waiting, patient as he had said. Albus saw Carina come in between him & Rose, say something to Rose that made her giggle & gain some more confidence & then turn to Albus as Rose- and the rest of the room, for that matter- turned to talk to the person next to her, which in her case was Scorpius.

"That was the Potions Master, Professor Castro, as you heard, Max says he not as nice as he first appears to be but he's a good teacher overall. He's also the head of Hufflepuff, mum laughed when Max said that, saying that her Potions Master was a 'snarky old Slytherin' who really liked to pick on your dad. Max says he's got a bit of a lisp, but you really won't start to notice it until the 3rd week of class. Just FYI," Carina said to him credulously.

Albus started to respond, but before he could about 15-or-so ghosts had just flown into the room & were all arguing & talking about many different things. A few people screamed, including Blaire who shrank down to the floor, almost fainting, only to have Scorpius catch her. The rest of them, including Albus, gasped in astonishment. He heard bits of the pearly white, almost-transparent ghosts' conversations.

"Oh, not Peeves _again_—"

"The housewife's portrait on the fourth floor told me that—"

"It'd be a terrible shame if—"

Quite a few more of them came in through the wall & went out through the other, barely noticing the first years were there at all. Professor Castro came striding in through the door again as the ghosts were leaving.

"We are ready for you. Form a line & follow me, please," he said simply & the rest of the first years followed him through the large doors. They came into the Great Hall which really was a magnificent sight to behold. [Once again, if you want to know what the Great Hall looks like in amazing detail: read the book.] The ceiling was a light blue & cloudless sky, warm & welcoming to the newest additions of the Hogwarts student body.

They then saw the Sorting Hat, & for a long moment it sat perfectly still; but then it twitched & it started singing. [Want the song? Read. Read, people, read!] Albus knew all about the hat, the song it sang (James & Max had once recited it in the middle of a Christmas morning, so he wasn't likely to forget it), how it worked, & lies & rumours that his dad had told him weren't true, but James had insisted otherwise.

After the song was finished, the whole room erupted in applause &Albus only felt it right to politely & slowly clap along with Carina, Scorpius while Rose clapped vigorously behind their other cousin Julia & Blaire was just as gone as she was before, standing in a trance with a green tinge to her face.

Professor Castro walked up with a long roll of parchment in his hands.

"When I call your name, you will put on the hat & sit on the stool to be sorted," he said. "Alvin, Elijah!"

A swarthy, raven-haired boy walked quickly up to the stool, put on the hat, which covered his eyes & sat on the stool. He sat there for a few seconds, until—

"RAVENCLAW!" shouted the hat.

The table second from the left clapped as Elijah went to sit at it.

"Aster, Ava!"

"HUFFLEPUFF!" The hat shouted & the table on the far right started to clap & cheer as she sat down at it looking very pink.

"Baddock, Blaire!"

Blaire walked, unsteadily up & grabbed the chair before sitting down & her mother at the teachers table smiled prettily at her as she put the hat on her head. She sat there for a whole minute, looking as though she was holding her breath, before the hat called out.

"RAVENCLAW!" It shouted out & she raced down to the Ravenclaw table as the Ravenclaws clapped vigorously on what they probably considered a victory over Slytherin, seeing as her mother, Professor Baddock of Charms class, was Head of Slytherin & her other two children had already been placed in that house. Professor Baddock, however, couldn't have looked more proud.

"Benoit, Estelle," a girl with auburn hair & bright green eyes went up to the platform & whispers went throughout the crowd.

He recognised her as the girl Blaire had been talking with on the train & knew why they were whispering. She was from France & her father was _extremely _famous among most wizarding mothers & daughters (& some fathers & sons too). He watched as she sat down; put the hat on her head as she sat for about thirty seconds before the hat called out, "GRYFFINDOR!" The table on the far left started to clap & cheer as Albus saw James & Max catcalling from the large crowd of Gryffindors.

"Blythe, Gabriella," went to Ravenclaw as well, but "Boot, Amon" became the second Gryffindor.

"Bocker, Elliot" was the first Slytherin. Perhaps it was Albus' imagination, but the Slytherin crowd looked like quite an unpleasant lot; but then he caught Sophie looking at him & she smirk-smiled, something only she could manage—to look kind & threatening at the same time that is — turned back to the front. Albus smiled, she was definitely getting into Slytherin & she was one of his best friends, maybe the Slytherins weren't so bad after all.

Next was "Claret, Montague," which Scorpius seemed to tense angrily at, was put into Slytherin as well.

He waited & waited, trying to sort out all the possibilities in his head & hadn't noticed as ten more people went up before he heard a familiar name.

"Finnegan, Carina!" He watched Sophia's medium-length, dark chocolate ponytail swish behind her back as she walked up. She picked up the hat & winked at him with her silvery-grey eyes—or maybe it was at Scorpius, he couldn't tell-& smile-smirked as she put the hat on.

About 15 seconds afterward, the hat yelled out.

"SLYTHERIN!" She took the hat off & lightly put it back on the stool & smoothly glided her way over to the Slytherin table where her & Max exchanged a tongue-stick-out.

"Fitzgerald, Lance" was next & put into Gryffindor before Albus went back to his thoughts of what it would actually be like to have the hat on. He wondered how the hat actually knew what house you were to be in, did it invade your mind with Legilimency (his father had told him stories of how Voldemort used it to enter his brain at times)? Few probably knew how the Hat actually did it, but that didn't keep his imagination from running rampant with the crazy magics the hat could use to probe your mind. He seriously tried to keep his mind off his _own_ Sorting.

"Malfoy, Scorpius!" was called & he lifted his head from looking at his feet as the blond walked up calmly & put the hat on his head.

"SLYTHERIN!" the hat shouted after just five seconds after being on his head.

The blond took the hat off & sauntered over to the Slytherin table shoved the boy sitting next to Carina & sat down. Next was "Malone, Jalon" in Hufflepuff, followed by Mckay, Kenan in Ravenclaw & Moon, Darcy was the latest Gryffindor. Nathans was a Hufflepuff & Nielson was a Gryffindor, Nott, Slytherin, O'Brian in Ravenclaw, Oliver, Slytherin, then the "P's," Page, Paris, Parkinson... Pender... Peterson... & finally, "Potter, Albus," was called.

The whole room went quiet as Albus walked up to the platform & put on the hat. At this point, Albus felt completely confident and had decided to go wherever the hat thought was best, even if it was Slytherin. He saw James stand up slightly but Max pulled him down before he could do anything stupid. He put on the hat & the crowd watched in utter silence, even Car & Scorpius were staring at him with wide eyes, okay, so maybe only Car's eyes were wide, but close enough. He sat there for exactly one minute and forty-five seconds, as Carina so counted, before the hat yelled out.

"SLYTHERIN!" It shouted & Albus looked indifferent as he crossed over to the Slytherin table as they burst into thunderous applause while he walked over surreptitiously & sat down across from Carina whose silver eyes were shining bright in his direction.

Next they went onto the "R's" starting with Ramsey, Juniper in Ravenclaw & Reynolds, Emmanuel in Gryffindor were the only two in that group. Scamander, Lorcan was a Slytherin & his twin Lysander was a Ravenclaw, Schmidt, Evelyn was a Gryffindor & Shaw, Jacqueline in Ravenclaw.

He waited through the rest of the letters until it was time for the "W's" for Julia, Vivian & Rose. God be forsaken if they were separated like those other twins did, though they probably would be anyway, not knowing what Albus did—that the Hat took your personal opinion.

"Weasley, Julia," was called & she flounced up to the stand with her curly red hair & pale blue eyes, Calypso had had blue eyes at the time of her conception, apparently. She sat there for a moment looking perplexed.

"RAVENCLAW!" The Hat called out. He could see Vivian go completely white for one second before turning her hair back the beautiful blue of Julia's eyes & the same on her eyes. Vivian was a true Gryffindor as she had been told by Uncle George, her father & fellow cohort in many mischievous adventures.

"Weasley, Rose," was next & Rose sauntered up to the stand & put on the hat.

"RAVENCLAW!" She hurried over to Julia's table & sat down quickly as the rest of the table clapped uproariously.

"Weasley, Vivian," she sprang up & skipped up with her short, straight blue hair bounced steadily on her neck. She sat almost petulantly & put on the hat & crossed her arms.

"GRYFFINDOR!" The hat called out & Vivian noticeably blanched as she went to sit at the Gryffindor table.

Margaret, Yancey & Ichabod, Zabini were the only ones left after that placed in Hufflepuff & Slytherin.

Headmistress McGonagall made announcements to the first years, as to everyone else, as well & started the feast.

* * *

End

Of first chapter.

AN: So? How do you like it? The next chapter is ready, but I'm not posting it until I revise it, again. Please review, I enjoy knowing what you have to say!


	2. Chapter 2

Epilogue, Continued Chapter Two

Warnings and Disclaimers: See Chapter One

It was two days after Albus & James had left for Hogwarts & Harry Potter was sitting in his office reading a letter from Al.

_Dear Dad,_

_I got into Slytherin, at one point I thought about telling it to put me in Gryffindor, but it really seemed to want to put me in Slytherin, so I let it. I'll probably start out as the biggest loser here, though they seemed to accept me at the Sorting; but if I have any problems, Carina and Scorpius will be there to help me, apparently a major part of Slytherin is teamwork and sticking together to pull through any situation (as the prefect told me, and Slytherins are faithful to). About Score, I know his father was mean to you in school, in fact Scorpius tells me he still mutters on about 'Stupid saviour Potter' & such, but Scorpius is my friend & Rose's & Blaire's (they are cousins) &, surprisingly, James' too. No need to say Car & Max, that one was obvious. Anyway, the twins got separated, & Viv is devastated, she sat at the Ravenclaw table with Rose—who got into Ravenclaw- & the Scamander twins (one is in Slytherin, though...). Apparently their mom knows you & mom from school & comes to Car's house, when you don't go to help her with the garden, & helps with the garden. Does the name Luna Lovegood ring a bell? So far I like Hogwarts, on the first day I had Charms, Potions, Transfiguration & Herbology. Professor Baddock came after class & gave me a large hug then said she hadn't seen me in a long time so she had to be a Hufflepuff if only for a moment. She and the Hufflepuff head, Professor Castro of Potions Class apparently have a huge rivalry & so Hufflepuff became the largest enemy of Slytherin & many of the Gryffindors & Slytherins are friends, though there is still a rivalry between them you say there used to be. Professor Longbottom did something similar & told me to come to him if I needed any help. So far, life is great at Hogwarts, & even if it has only been one day, Max found a way to get detention. _

_With Love,_

_Albus Severus Potter_

Harry folded up the letter & tucked it into his pocket. If Max had already gotten in trouble, James was not far behind, as Max was the more level-headed of the two. It was almost the end of the day & he was just wrapping up a report on his latest case.

He got up and went to deposit the report to Minister & walked past Ron's office in the Muggle Liaison Office. He poked his head in.

"I'm going to Mitzi's house. Tea is cancelled, me & Gin kind of got into a spat & I'm going to stay at hers, Oww," he said as Ron threw a paper airplane he had just made at his face & it hit right in the forehead.

"Sorry, I was aiming for your hands. So what happened this time, mate?"

"Oh, Ginny told me to get something for James two weeks before he went to school & I forgot; she didn't know until yesterday when James sent a letter complaining that he didn't have it. Man, the kid is great at getting people in trouble. Apparently it was important, it doesn't seem like it, I can't even remember what it was. Then she started ranting on about how I never listen & I never do this & etcetera, etcetera, etcetera."

"Hmph. Well, have fun at Mitten's house." Ron said & Harry backed out of the room.

When he got to the Minister's office, Kingsley offered him to stay at his house, but he said he was already going to help with her garden so he might as well stay & Kingsley understood. Harry then walked out & to the nearest chimney, where he flooed to Lyra's house in Hagen Glen.

When he got there he found one of the two house elves there, Chesil, cleaning the outside of the fireplace.

"Mister Potter! Please come in! Mistress Lyra is not being back yet, but she is soon, Chesil knows it. Would Mister Potter like some tea? Chesil has just finished some for Mistress Lyra, but she surely would not mind Mister Potter having some. In fact, I made a special second cup for Mister Potter as he always comes on Friday afternoons," the elf had led Harry into the kitchen where two cups of chamomile & lavender tea sat on the table. "Mister Potters & Mistress Lyra's favourite. With two teaspoons of honey & sugar in Mister Potter's &one teaspoon of honey in Mistress Lyra's; Mister Potter should really cut back on sugar, Chesil thinks he eats much too much."

Chesil stared at him speculatively as she put her hands on her hips &tapped her feet. Harry laughed, Mitzi's two house elves were both health-freaks, as was Mitzi herself & always gave what they thought was helpful advice about Harry's. Chesil was a lot like Dobby really, except she didn't 'worship' Harry like Dobby did, but was a spunky & spritely little elf all the same.

"Mister Potter is not drinking his tea. Has Mister Potter had his lunch? Eve knows how busy Mister Potter is, would Mister Potter like Chesil to make Mister Potter anything?" Chesil stared at him with wide, worried eyes & Harry smiled at her & took a sip of his tea.

"No, no. I had lunch with some of co-workers to celebrate the end of a long case. So, yeah, I had a very _large_ lunch, I don't think I need anything. Thank you, Chesil." The house elf smiled at him & nodded as she started back to the sitting room. She stopped at the door, though.

"Mister Potter didn't eat too much, did he? Did Mister Potter eat too much fat & calories? Does Mister Potter have heartburn? Chesil has some potion to help with that, from when Mistress Lyra gets sad & drinks too much..." Chesil trailed off & started back to the Sitting Room. Mitzi had every right to do get sad & drink too much, it had been two years since Seamus had died but she still hadn't gotten over it.

Seamus had died saving Dean from a killing curse that had shot from a case the two had been working on for two months; on the past two December twenty-thirds the two of them sent their kids to the Bed & Breakfast two miles from Mitzi's house & gotten stoned &Harry had had to come to help them in the morning. Seamus had been a very good Auror & father, & Mitzi had loved him almost desperately.

Said Mitzi then flooed into the Sitting Room, said hello to Chesil who hugged her around the legs as Harry watched from the dining room door way & sipped at his tea as Mitzi noticed him.

"Harry," she beamed. "So good to see you. Where's my tea? Ah, in the kitchen. Chesil, you can stop with the chimney, it's clean enough as it is," they both transferred from the dining room to the kitchen where Mitzi gathered up her gardening materials as she sipped on her tea.

"I assume you're staying over? I mean, excuse me for keeping track, but this is the time of month for your little spat, is it not?" Harry smiled & nodded. She knew him like no one else did. When he was afraid to tell anyone about something, he always came to her first. When he had nowhere else to go, he went to her place. Even if there was somewhere else to go, he usually chose to go here first. He also knew her better than Seamus had. Maybe even better than Zoë. Those two, plus Max & Carina were the only ones she opened up to. Oh, & he couldn't forget Draco Malfoy. Maybe he knew her as well as he did... he did not know & did not care to know.

They walked out to the garden in silence, not an awkward silence, but a peaceful silence, until Tursy, the other house elf, broke that silence.

"Mistress Lyra! The pixies got into the houses again!"

"Oh no, not again." Mitzi started running & Harry was close behind. When they reached the greenhouses the glass was broken & you could see little blue pixies fluttering all about the place. They went in & eradicated them all & cleaned up the glass as quickly as possible.

"I swear, those pixies are coming much too frequently. Last month we had five colonies attack. I just barely saved my Puffapod from ruining the whole garden! Of course their easy enough to get rid of, just the damage they leave behind is the problem..." she kept on going about pixies & plants & the latest cases in the Spell Damage Department at St. Mungo's—which she & Malfoy were the Co-Head Healers of—as Harry went on watering the plants with _Aguamenti_.

"Today we don't need to gather any; I already have my shipment for tomorrow. Would you like to come with me, or would you rather stay with Chesil & Tursy?" She said when they had finished watering & weeding.

"Yeah, don't think you're leaving me here with Chesil, she'll probably make me run around the house the whole time you're gone," Harry said & Mitzi laughed.

"She actually would, she makes me do little thirty minute exercise routines that she creates when I'm at work when I get home. So, after we hit the apothecary in Diagon Alley, do you want to go to Benoit's?" Benoit's was where he always got his gifts for Ginny after they had a fight. "Carina sent me a letter saying they had met Monsieur Benoit's daughter at school. I wonder if we mentioned that my daughter was friends with the owner's daughter we'd get a discount?" She looked at him with a quirked brow & Harry laughed, the more the years went on, the more Mitzi turned into a cunning & devious Slytherin as she said she could have been.

"Of course we could. Of course," Harry said & looked out the side of the greenhouse, it was getting dark. Mitzi's wand tip lighted & she put it at the base of her chin to light her features ominously.

"Ready to go see the devil?" She asked with an evil smile on her face.

"Is he ready to see us?" He did the same as he asked & Mitzi laughed.

"Of course he is, of course," She said replicating the tone Harry had used earlier. They walked out of the greenhouse, number one, Harry noted & walked down to the very last greenhouse, number seven. Greenhouse Seven was a dark room with all of the windows blacked out so that no light could get in.

They walked in the greenhouse, completely calm & devoid of any emotion. The dark and damp atmosphere was almost muggy & Harry held his lighted wand higher as they walked through the aphotic greenhouse looking at the ground tentatively for the springy tendrils of the Devil's Snare.

Mitzi had gotten the plant as a seed from the Minister as a twentieth birthday gift. It produced five seeds each year, which Mitzi sold to Herbologists seeking to gather any plant they could get their hands on. Sadly, this was the time when the seeds culminated & Harry would have to help her get them because it was, most definitely, a two-person task. Mitzi also kept the Black signet ring in the greenhouse, saying that it could be stolen if she wore it or put it anywhere else. It was, truly, her most prized possession as it was the one thing she had demanded her father give her when he wrote his will & told him to give everything else to Harry, though Harry shared the Black vault with her as he had persisted & she had willingly given in.

"Remind me why I agreed to this?" Harry complained as a vine wrapped around his ankle & he sent a blast of fire down at it.

"Because you don't want me to die &, as you know, I'm worthless at fire spells. Mind, now, don't hurt 'im," she said as she reached the back of the house where the pot was. Harry scoffed & shot another blast of fire at a vein that had wrapped itself around his wrist; hurt it, yeah, sure.

It was a relatively small pot for such a large plant, but Mitzi probably had tons of enlargement charms on it. She beckoned Harry, she had managed to get through without having a single cord touching her pale skin or lime green robes. She practically glowed in the dim light, except for her long black, wavy ponytail. She beckoned him over, Mitzi was right she was bullocks at fire charms. He came over & did a quick bluebell fire charm & Mitzi quickly grabbed the five seeds dropped at the root of the plant & the ring next to them & turned around to quickly hop through the vines of the plant.

"Hurry up, Harry! Don't let the devil get you!" She laughed as she got to the door & turned around, waiting.

"Well, thanks for leaving me here," he said as he hopped quickly through the greenhouse & followed Mitzi out the door. When they left it was almost dark & Harry checked his watch, half-past seven, Chesil was going to be pestering non-stop about being late for dinner which was _always_ at seven o' clock. Unless tardiness was work related, of course.

When they got to the house, Chesil was right at the door hands on hips, foot tapping, staring angrily up at them.

"Mistress Lyra & Mister Potter missed dinner. Mistress Lyra must come & eat immediately. Chesil will go re-heat the food now. Mister Potter is a bad influence on Mistress Lyra. Mistress Lyra has _never_ been late for dinner. Not even when she went to Hogwarts." Harry snorted a laugh.

"I think it's Mistress Lyra that's a bad influence on ne," Mitzi elbowed him in the ribs, but a genuine smirk-smile was spread was spread on her face.

They ate their meal in silence until Lyra put down her utensils & looked absently at Harr for a minute or two.

"What?" He asked with a mouthful of food. Mitzi got out of her daze & pursed her lips.

"Disgusting Harry, didn't you learn to keep your mouth shut when you were a child?"

"Yes, but it was all I could do that would get you out of your daze. What's wrong?" Mitzi sighed.

"Well, you know, it's been two years since Seamus died & I..." she trailed off & started twirling the Black signet around her finger.

"And you what?"

"And I was starting to think it was time I got over it and got back the old Black family title; I would make my kids Black too, so I could, you know, carry on the Black title. You know renounce the Finnegan title in _my_ family so if Max ever marries someone the Black title will go on & on, no matter how 'sullied' or 'besmirched' it gets. I just want it to be there. That's why I go this ring out." Harry started clapping; Lyra looked at him with quelling eyes.

"I've been waiting to hear you say... something like that for two years now. I'm glad to see you've moved on. I'm so happy for you, I could just... I think I will," he got up from his spot at the other side of the dining table to give Mitzi a large bear hug. She tensed at first, but then eased into it & hugged him back.

After about three minutes of awkward hugging (at least on Mitzi's part) Harry pulled away & Mitzi asked him, "So what do you want to do, now that you've finished hugging my brains out?"

He laughed and got up to start walking to the door.

"I just finished a really exhausting case today, so I think I'll be going to sleep."

"You know where the room is. I'll be in my study if you need me." And with that they both walked up the stairs & Mitzi went in the first door on the left & Harry went down the hall to the third to last door on the right & went in.

The room was dark with gray wallpaper decorated with black fleur de lis' above the white wainscoting & black stripes below it. The bed was a large queen size with the same gray & black stripes & a black mosquito net covering hanging from the ceiling. The dark mahogany flooring was soft as carpet as Harry took off his shoes & changed into a pair of dark plaid pyjama pants, he never wore shirts in bed anymore, it just didn't feel right.

He got into bed & turned off the dim lights. Sleep caught him easily as he laid his head on the soft, silk covered pillows.

He woke up a few somethings later when a loud noise that sounded like someone flooing in came from the lower floor. He got up and looked at his watch that was on the side table, it was quarter 'til nine. He hurriedly put on a shirt & opened his door to see Mitzi in a purple evening cloak hurrying down the stairs & Harry slowly closed the door & walked down the stairs lowly & heard sniffing & a small bit of sobbing he identified as male as Mitzi comforted the obviously crying man.  
"Shh, shush now, Draco. It's all right; you can tell Lyra what happened." Draco. That meant it was Draco Malfoy who was down there, sobbing & crying into Lyra Mariele Finnegan (or should he call her Black?)'s arms. He looked around the banister &surely enough, there was the tell-tale head of platinum blond hair & pale skin as the man wept in her lap in the middle of the red & gold coloured sitting room.

"She... she said she was going to do it... Again. And this time... this time she went to st-straight her l-lawyer right after she said it. She-she's going to di-divorce me. She-she's g-g-going to g-g-get a di-di-divorce & leave me a-alone in that h-huge house. All by my-myself... I wonder if she-she'll take Scorpius from... from me," after that he broke into hysterical sobs & apparently couldn't make any coherent sentences as Mitzi stroked his head & went on down his back repeatedly. She then looked straight at Harry with a pained look in her eye & dipped her head at him. He got the notion and slowly went back up the stairs. As he went up Malfoy's sobs could be heard & Mitzi still comforted him. He stopped on the fifth step.

"It's okay, Draco. You can stay here as long as you want. I seriously doubt she'll take Scorpius away from you, she knows how much you love him, she's not _that_ cruel." Draco made something that sounded something like a laugh.

"I thought you were her friend..."

"Oh, Draco, I hate her. I only got along with her for your sake. She's an evil bint, though I seriously doubt she would be evil enough to take your beloved Scorpius. I'll always be here for you, if you need me; always." The cries softened & Harry looked up the stairs to see Chesil looking at him with wide eyes & a tear rolling down her cheek. She put a finger over her lips & Harry nodded as they both listened.

"You know..." Malfoy trailed off.

"Hmm?"

"Your hand is really soft & your legs are like a pillow..." He heard Mitzi laugh.

"I think you're starting to become delirious... Are you drunk?"

"Maybe a bit."

"All right, let's get you to bed."

"No. I don't want to move, you're comfortable." He heard Mitzi laugh a bit harder & he grinned too, he hadn't talked to Malfoy in years, but he couldn't believe he would become this soft, he was completely sloshed.

"I'll go with you. Now get up, I won't leave, don't worry."

"Promise?"

"Promise. Now get up ya tippler." He heard Malfoy grunt and heard shoes tap on the strong oak flooring.

"I am _not _a tippler." Malfoy said indignantly & Harry started walking up the stair again.

"Celui qui dit que t'étais ?"

"T'as fait!" Malfoy responded. French. Mitzi obviously knew harry was on the staircase & was telling him to get lost. Harry did as instructed & went quickly into his room. There were two other guest bedrooms; Harry just hoped this wasn't the one the blonde preferred.

Thankfully it wasn't, Harry spent the rest of the night huddled under the thick blankets & when he woke it was to the sounds of birds chirping from the nearby Culbin Forest.

He got up and opened the window. It was a bright, sunny, and cloudless day. Perfect for going to the beach and playing Seeker's Games with Mitzi who, though she didn't ever admit it, made a fairly good seeker. She had even beat Harry a couple of times. But first he had to go with Mitzi to drop off her precious plants to the apothecaries around London, a couple in Wales, & Scotland. Well, they'd get to the first part later, if she wasn't tending to a heartbroken Malfoy.

He put on his watch and looked at the time, around ten-thirty, just in time for brunch. He got dressed and as he went out the door he almost ran into a sleepy, mussed-up Draco Malfoy. Malfoy stopped dead in his tracks.

"Oh, right. She told me you were here." He started back to his room. "Tell Lyra I'll be down in a minute."

"O...kay..." he stared at Malfoy as he walked away. He had just had pleasant conversation with Malfoy; he must be dreaming or something. Of course it hadn't really been much of a conversation, but still, more than five words without a single jeer, snide comment or smirk. Of course there had been conversations at work—Malfoy picking up a bystander at a duel that got hit with a curse wrong or something similar—but even in those he had made some kind jest to Harry's hair or fame or something along those lines.

As he stared at Malfoy's retreating figure he noticed _his_ hair. Harry had never seen Malfoy when his hair was so messed up, but it looked perfect, even though carelessly strewn, it still looked amazing. It was very perplexing, but Harry felt the need to go rumple it up even more, so it looked like his, which was probably a hornet's nest of black right now. He shrugged and walked down the stairs.

Mitzi was in the breakfast nook, drinking her tea and eating a small stack of, what looked to be, strawberry pancakes covered in lemon-looking syrup.

"So... Malfoy..." Harry started. Mitzi glared at him.

"Yes, he is here and you two _will_ get along. I have already asked him to not insult you and now I am asking you to be friendly, if not just talking to him when necessary and keeping the insults to a minimum. Any sign of punching, hexes, punching, curses, or tackling are _non-existent_. Do you hear me?"

"Yes ma'am and he said he'd be down in a minute, is what I was going to say..."

"Oh, well, you already know why he's here, eaves dropping prat." She smacked him on the back of the table as he sat down to a plate of sausage and a mushrooms & cheese omelette. "Glad I don't have to explain that, it would be pretty awkward."

"Yeah, you'd probably start stuttering and going 'uh, well... uh, um... well, you see...'" She smacked him again as Malfoy came in the door, looking as impeccable as ever.

"I thought you said no roughhousing." He said with a look of feigned annoyance,

"I meant roughhousing that could get someone hurt." Mitzi said dryly.

"That did kind of hurt..."

"Oh! So _now_ just because I told you to get along for a few days you start siding with him? Thanks a lot, Har-_ry_."

"I'm not _siding with him_ I'm simply stating that that hurt." Harry defended himself and Mitzi laughed.

"This is going o be an interesting day. I am going perform an experiment and you two are going to be my test subjects."

"Not again." They complained with perfect synchronicity.

"Oh yes, very interesting..." she trailed off and started eating her breakfast again. "Anyway, I floo-called both of your wives," they both visibly froze and stared at her, "and they had very interesting things to say. Yours, Harry," she took her fork from her mouth where she had licked it clean and pointed at Harry and he gulped, his fear of what his wife had said, "said that she's really pissed, obviously, and she's not going to let you back for at least a week, even if you buy her the prettiest and most expensive dress in Benoit's, she also said she's glad that Draco's here so that maybe he can drill some sense into your head, personally I just think she wants him to knock you cold, which isn't" –she looked sharply at Malfoy—"going to happen. Draco, forgive me, but I told her about your divorce, she'd find out soon enough anyways, you know how quickly rumours travel at the hospital, even from floor to floor. What she said to that, well it was most hilarious, well, first she said she was sorry to hear about it and then she said" –she stifled a laugh—"she said that maybe she should divorce you, Harry, and try to seduce Draco; because, and I quote: 'Draco would treat me ten times better than Harry ever has." At this point, both Malfoy and Mitzi burst out in hysterical laughter.

"Oh, that's rich, her? Seduce me? Ha, as if she could. It'd be more likely for me to start dating Potter himself." At that Mitzi stopped laughing and stared at Malfoy with a raised eyebrow and a slightly humorous, mostly shocked grin. Harry didn't know if his mouth had reached the floor yet, but he was sure it would soon, if either of them started speaking again.

"All righty then, well, I can promise you, Harry: she would never do that. She wouldn't last ten minutes in a room before Draco sent her out in tears, plus, you treat her quite well. She's just mad about Charlie getting hurt and is taking it out on you, which is wrong, Harry."

She picked up her fork which she had put down in her bout of laughter and pointed at Malfoy, "your wife, Draco, discussed some terms for the divorce. She said that, although she wasn't going to take Scorpius away from you completely, she's asking for him for half of the time he's not in school. She also said she wanted a quick and clean divorce so she could get on with her life. For money she said she only small sum, about 500,000 galleons. She also wants the house in Norton and nothing form the Manor, because and again I quote: 'the ponce picked out all the furniture when we redecorated and, since he was thinking of his bastard school crush while he picked it all out, it does not belong to me. Whereas, in the Norton house _everything _was picked out by _me_ and I adore it.'" She said in a tone that was so bitter and resentful she had possibly been choking up all the hate Malfoys wife had thrown on her, which seemed like a ton. Their marriage must've been terribly horrid. Mitzi looked at Malfoy with concern in her bright grey eyes. "Well, Draco."

"Well, Lyra, I think Potter here should watch his sorry-arse-back before he ends up divorced and alone, like me. Trust me, I've heard way too many threats from Astoria to mistake when someone means it or not. Also, to her terms, I agree." He said gritting his teeth the whole time.

Oh, and Harry, Kingsley said you get the week off for working so hard and completing the Miller case—I admit, it did seem like a hell of a lot of work—unless, of course, there is an emergency." Malfoys eyes went wide and his lips went in a thin line of agitation and Harry could see he almost did a spit-take of the water he had just drunken, though he controlled himself well, as always, and didn't.

"You mean this week, the week that _I_ taking of as a sick week, Potter is taking off as well; and that he's going to be staying here _with me_, while you go off to work and we'll be here _alone_?" He said incredulously. Harry did do a spit-take at that. Alone? In a house with _Draco Malfoy_? Not. Bloody. Likely.

"Yes. And don't do that, Harry, it's not proper and you've made a mess on my brand new table cloth," she pouted.

"And you're not worried that you'll come home one day to find the house doused in blood?"

"No! Of course not! I have complete confidence that you two will put your childish rivalries behind you and be amicable. Plus, you may not like each other, but you would never _kill_ each other. You're not heartless."

"I could go to—"

"No, Draco, there is no place you could go. Zoë is in Russia; Parkinson is in Paris with her newest boy-of-the-month, being alone with Blaise and his wife sickens you, your mum will pester you about the divorce until your head falls off, Gregory would be no help at all to you and probably only make it worse by giving you tons of alcohol and making an alcoholic out of you—and you know I can't have my Draco become an alcoholic—oh, and Theo's in Greece with family. You've got to remind me to go and say hello when he comes back, I've really missed him..." she trailed off airily looking thoughtfully at the ceiling. Malfoy raised a brow at her, smirked, shook his head and mouthed "about time."

"Well, I could—"

"Oh, Harry, you couldn't anywhere either. The Weasleys are probably all mad at you because you're fighting with Ginny at such a "mournful time," –she rolled her eyes and made air quotes when she said that—"Neville is at Hogwarts, and Hermione is part of the Weasleys so she wouldn't take you in either, Luna is in Sweden looking for some odd creature, Dean is on a case in Wales, Kingsley would ask you why you are so close to work on your week off and at your answer he would repeat me and send you back here."

"Face it, you two have nowhere else to go and you're going to have to get along for the week. You can stay in opposite parts of the house if you want, never talk to each other, but you are going to get along."

"All right, but are you sure you didn't planned this?" Malfoy said reluctant yet suspicious.

"Oh, I didn't plan a single bit until I got all the information I would need." Mitzi said surreptitiously.

"So you're planning now?" Malfoy said solely suspicious now.

"Of course! It'll be good for you, I promise!" She replied enthusiastically and Malfoy put his head in his hands as she smiled joyfully down at him. He got up with a weary smile and started to the dining room.

"I'm going to the portrait room. I'll be down... whenever." Mitzi nodded solemnly, the smile completely gone from her face, replaced with an expression of sad understanding. She then turned to Harry and looked at him very seriously as soon as Malfoy had left.

"Now, I want you to be five times nicer to him than I've told you to be. I'm not going to tell you why because you'll find out soon enough; but this divorce is about more to him than losing his wife and a few of his possessions. Understand?" Harry nodded uncomfortably. "Oh, and try not to make it look like pity; Malfoys don't take pity well." Harry nodded again as Chesil came to take up their empty plates.

"So, you ready to go to the Apothecary?" Harry said brightly; ready to get out of the house and away from the Moping Malfoy.

End

Of the second chapter

AN: This is the Drarry chapter, hoped you liked it! Next is another Scorbus chapter, it's basically going to go back and forth like that. This is about the Scorbus chapter, but I forgot about it so, did you notice that Vivian Weasley (who is George and his wife's child) is a metamorphmagus? So when she blanched out on stage, she was actually all white. But, anyway, tell me how you like it! I crave your opinion!


	3. Chapter 3

Epliogue, Continued Chapter Three

Warnings and Disclaimers: See first chapter

Albus woke up that third morning at Hogwarts with his roommate, Scorpius Malfoy, standing over him, smiling. Scorpius poked him in his temple.

"Al~bus~ wake up~!" He said in a sing-song voice. Albus hadn't known Scorpius for very long, but this didn't seem like his normal behaviour. Albus opened his eyes and sat up.

"I'm awake and you," he said pointedly, "are way too happy. Why?"

"Why? It's the weekend, of course. Why wouldn't I be happy?" He turned and walked over to his bed which was in between Albus' and Elliot Bocker's; Ichabod Zabini's was on the other side of Albus's bed. "Plus, we can..." he trailed off and started coming closer to Albus who moved to the edge of his bed; Scorpius sat on the bed with Albus, edging closer until his mouth was right at Albus' ear, "use that map your father gave you to have some fun." Scorpius finished in a whisper, smiling on the brunet's ear.

Albus stood up and smiled wickedly down at Scorpius who returned the smile with a gleeful one.

"I see you're ready for some debauchery, aren't you?" Scorpius nodded excitedly. "Well, I'll just go get ready and then we'll go to breakfast, get Carina and have some fun."

"What about Rose and Blaire?" Scorpius asked with a cocked head, from the edge of Al's bed as Al grabbed some from the small wardrobe next to the bed. Al looked at him incredulously.

"Do you really think they'd want to join us? They'd probably scared of getting in trouble. I can hear Rose now, 'no, don't do that, you'll get in trouble. That's it, I'm stopping you by taking that map.'" Al says in a falsetto voice and Elliot Bocker wakes up as Scorpius is laughing at the almost perfect imitation of what either of them would say.

"Yeah, we'd better not tell them," Scorpius says.

"Tell who what?" Elliot Bocker says sitting up on his bed looking at them suspiciously as Al walks over to the bathroom.

"Nothing of importance, Bocker." Scorpius smiles at him innocently.

"Okay... Did you two sleep together?" Scorpius hisses and retreats onto Al's bed with his tongue stuck out, shaking his head.

"Eww, no. That's disgusting; Al and I are friends, why would we sleep together?"

"Just asking, you are on his bed, you know." Elliot pointed out helpfully and yawned.

"I know," Scorpius got up on the other side of the bed and flicked Ichabod Zabini in the head to wake him up. "But that doesn't mean we slept on it together. It just means that I went over to wake him up then talk to him," he walks over to the other side of the room to flick Lorcan Scamander in the head.

"All right, all right. No need to get all pushy," Elliot said lying back down as Lorcan shot up and got out of bed.

"Hey, Score, what time is it?" Ichabod Zabini said lazily.

"Nine thirty. I let you sleep late; and unless you want to wake up at eight o' clock, like I do, I suggest you stop calling me that name!" Scorpius snapped.

"Why not? Score is such a cool nickname. My name has no nickname like that. All I've got is "Icky" and Jacob likes to call me "Abo." So terrible." Ichabod complains, shaking his head.

"True enough; but still, don't call me that."

"Yes,sir. Hey, do you want to come with me and Jacob to the lake? Carina can come too, of course, but it's almost always too cold to go so I was hoping that..." he trailed off because Scorpius was giving him an incredulous look.

"It's Jacob and I, idiot," Scorpius and a somehow fully dressed Lorcan said simultaneously. Scorpius turned to give Lorcan the same look he had been giving Ichabod a moment ago who returned the look and mouthed "jinx" then smiled politely.

"Anyway, no, I'm going with Carina and Albus to explore the castle; since we _are_ fairly new here," Scorpius replied, staring absently at Ichabod's right ear.

"Oh, well you and Potter becoming friends pretty fast," Scorpius followed Ichabod, his mind in other places, as he got up and went to his dresser.

"It's 'pretty quickly.' I guess so, but it's mostly because we're both Carina's best friends and we find a lot of common grounds that we can walk on," Scorpius said as he lay down on his own bed and started twirling his wand in his fingers. _Albus sure does take long showers_ he thought.

"Probably, though I still don't get that metaphor," Ichabod said, standing at the entrance to the bathroom with the door open. Scorpius rolled his eyes and listened for water coming from the shower. There was none and a few seconds later Albus came back into the room.

Scorpius slid quietly off of his bed and flicked the once-again-sleeping Elliot in the temple. Elliot swatted his hand away and Scorpius snorted a laugh as he turned to follow Lorcan and Albus to the door. The three of them walked down to the Great Hall for breakfast together, talking about their hopes and dreams for the upcoming school year.

As they reached the Dining Hall they were joined by Carina and Lysander who was apparently sitting at the Slytherin table today. At that the five broke into two groups, Carina, Albus and Scorpius in one and Lorcan and Lysander in the other. Sitting next to each other, but talking about completely different things; the twins fussing over breakfast and the other three exploring the possibilities of the day with the Marauders Map. By the end of breakfast they had decided not to go out of the castle yet, and stick to learning the hallways and passages within the castle.

By the time Elliot, Ichabod and Jacob Nott joined them, the twins had let and Carina, Albus and Scorpius were all smiling broadly, their plans for the day complete.

"So bluebirds, what's with the smiles?" Ichabod said and Carina frowned.

"I thought only I was bluebird," she pouted.

"Right, of course, Bluebird" he bowed to Carina, "Blackbird," he bowed to Albus, "and Ducky," he smiled and bowed to Scorpius.

"How come they get to be birds that are nice to look at and I get to be a stupid duck!" Scorpius asked grudgingly.

"That's classified, so what's with the smiles? Did Lorcan put some kind of smiling jinx on you?" Ichabod asked.

"Lorcan couldn't _do_ a smiling jinx if he tried. As to why we are smiling so much, that's classified." Scorpius said and smiled cheekily up at him.

Ichabod smiled back the same way and walked to sit beside Eliot. The three of them got up and walked back to the Common room where Carina sat on the couch next to Blanche Baddock whom she started a conversation about the effects of the Icelily (known to freeze any living thing that touches it) with as Albus and Scorpius went up to their dorm room to get the Map and the cloak.

They spent the rest of the day exploring the castle, finding short-cuts to classes and ways to get out of the library without being seen. Scorpius found what he called "the ultimate hiding place," a small closet-like space by an entrance that led to the Black Lake that was almost completely cut off, and the entrance was on the other side so that you couldn't see it and it was no wider than a foot and a half. It had a window and enough room to squeeze four fifth years. Scorpius explained that here they could skip classes without anyone finding you because the room was completely soundproof. Albus loved the idea, but Carina, not so much; she put her hands on her hips and shook her head shamefully. Albus and Scorpius just laughed.

They ended the day with Albus getting lost when the stairs moved while he was on them, going to a corridor they had not gotten to yet. Carina had the map as she was "the only and lonely girl who was stuck with them and deserved a companion." Anyway they spent the rest of their evening searching for the boy who happened to be in front of an old Charms classroom that they had been in earlier.

"Really? You got lost _there_? The place we spent two hours at? You really are quite dense." Carina said.

"I did not get lost. You obviously found me very easily," Albus shot back and Carina and Stared at him accusingly.

"The map, you idiot," Carina shook the map up and down, pointing at it vigorously. "Remember, the map has people's _names_ and where they _are_."

"Yeah, I know. I just thought it would take you longer because I was wandering around trying to find you."

"Well, if you_ remembered_ about the names, why did you move? We would have found you even sooner if you hadn't been moving!" She scolded and started down the hall to their Common Room. "Come on then, we don't want to be caught after hours."

Hooking her arms in theirs she skipped them down the corridor and into the beginning of the dungeons. Scorpius walked alongside Carina (instead of skipping) with his arm still intertwined with hers, but Albus unhooked his arm and walked sullenly two paces behind. As they approached the Common Room Carina stopped skipping and she and Scorpius slowed down to walk smoothly beside Albus.

Albus said the password when they got to the door and it opened to show a very crowded common room. The three of them were very tired and did not stay in the common room very long. Carina gave both the boys a quick peck on the cheek and a "goodnight" before running off to her dormitory with Paris Parkinson.

The boys soon followed suit, going up to their dorm to find they were the first ones in. They changed into their pyjamas and got into bed.

"Goodnight, Albus," Scorpius said slightly sleepily, turned over to look at Albus who was sat up on his bed.

Albus slid down and looked at Scorpius with a sleepy smile, "goodnight, Scorpius," he said and Scorpius smirked back at him as he closed his eyes to sleep and dream about all the fun things they had done that day.

AN: I am sorry it took me so long to update this, but I have been kind of taking a break and writing other things. I also am sorry that this is so much shorter than the other two chapters. I thought that Lily would get the Cloak when she came to school, and Albus would still get the Map, but for now he's got both. James doesn't get either because he's not trustworthy enough ;). Anyway, review! We have only got one review on this and I would really like some more! Don't make me go to threatening not to write, because I will!


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